Jared McAteer’s Blag - jaredmcateer.com

I’ve created a new Greasemonkey script called “Reddit light district” it enables easy identification of NSFW links on the Reddit site. People were complaining that NSFW links were getting seeded into the main page with little distinction. I quickly created a simple solution to this problem, now when browsing links that have NSFW in their title or are part of the NSFW sub-reddit will appear are red in the list.

Technorati Tags: Greasemonkey, Reddit, NSFW

Popularity: 55% [?]

I procrastinate, a lot, I know it’s a problem and I’ve done a lot of things to try and counter this problem. There are times when I think that I must have Adult ADD because my ability to concentrate on work is extremely poor when I’m not interested in the work, I definitely have a lot of the symptoms that are listed for ADD but I always thought it this disorder was over diagnosed. It’s bad enough though to affect my work and I have been determined to find a solution (that doesn’t involve prescriptions.)

My problem is that when I run into something that interrupts my work (ie. compiling/building) I switch to reading websites, the problem is that compiling/building or whatever may only take a few moments to a couple minutes but I will spent the next 15 minutes to an hour surfing. Then I wonder where the time has gone, and my line of thought on the code I was working on is long gone.

I’ve tried using “break” timers, manually blocking websites (via hosts and greasemonkey scripts,) music, all sorts of things. Then the other day I stumbled upon a counter-intuitive solution. I was working from home, and just got season of How I Met Your Mother so I decided to watch a few episodes while I worked. Surprisingly I worked almost the whole time the show was on, I had very few urges to go surf the web, whenever there was a lull or interruption in my work I’d focus on the small video window I had open but then get right back to work when the compiler finished.

It seems strange that something that is as distracting as TV is the solution to my problem of being easily distracted, but I am pretty happy to have found it as my productivity has easily doubled.

If anyone is out there reading, feel free to post your methods of keeping focused.

Technorati Tags: Procrastination, Productivity, Work, ADD

Popularity: 50% [?]

People wonder why I give them such a hard time when I’m a passenger in their vehicle and they run a red light. They acknowledge they made a mistake and we should all just get over it. No harm no foul right?

Tuesday night my cousin was hit crossing the street by a woman that ran a red light, the doctors performed surgery on her and removed a piece of bone from her spine. The good news is that her spine wasn’t severed the bad news is she has no feeling in her legs as of yet.  She’s the type of person that if there’s chance she can walk again she will but the doctors are not so optimistic.

Please put down your cellphones, stop looking for that CD in the back seat you want and pay attention to your surroundings, it only takes a second to become a murderer.

Popularity: 68% [?]

I was reminded today of a wonderful way to instantly cure your hiccups. I first learned this method while at my first job as a stock/bag boy for a local grocery store. I had been plagued by chronic hiccups for most of the day and no matter which remedy people suggested worked (I went through the gambit of holding my breath, drinking water side down, etc, etc.) until one lady whom worked in the deli suggested, vinegar.

I was extremely skeptical and thought she might be pulling my leg. But desperation won out and I took a sip and sure enough my hiccups went away. All it took was a packet that you’d typically find in a fast food restaurant and they were gone. It’s disgusting but like Buckley’s cough syrup, it just works.

The best thing about it, is that it works so fast you can chase it with something pleasant tasting. I don’t claim to know exactly how it works but I think it causes such a shock to your system that it reset your diaphragm to behave properly.

^* Caveat: I don’t recommend trying this if you have been drinking, while it might work, from first hand experience, adding vinegar to your probably already queasy stomach is not a good idea.

Technorati Tags: hiccups, home remedies

Popularity: 79% [?]

The tubes are a buzz of Boston’s latest “terrorist scare.” The creators of Aqua Teen Hunger Force put out what are essentially a bunch of lite brights of their cartoon characters, 38 of them scattered around Boston. They dilligently did their duty blinking away for three weeks before the Boston PD took notice and called in the bomb squad.

Yes they brought in the bomb squad, why? you might ask. Well Johnny because there were blinking lights and exposed wires and anyone who has seen a movie in the last 30+ years knows that ALL bombs have blinking lights and exposed wires, it’s how you know it’s a bomb. So anyways the Boston PD essentially shut down the city while they removed this threat to security. As soon as the creators heard their viral ad campaign was being treated as a threat to national security they told the city where to find all the devices.

Once the city of Boston learned that they had over-reacted to an obvious non-threat they turned on the spin machine. Instead of calling it what it was, a viral marketing campaign, they are calling it a “Hoax.” Yep, that’s how they are trying to save face, by pretending that instead of a marking campaign they are saying that the creators of the cartoon were infact trying to scare the general public rather than get word out of their work.

To the creators I imagine this is a win regardless, infact I would wager this is more than they had hoped for. Everyone in Boston and then some now know about the cartoon, as far as viral marketing goes this one is definitely in the success category. To me it is another reason I get to sit on my fine Canadian high horse, point and laugh.

To further illustrate my point:

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Popularity: 80% [?]